Book Description

The requirements for a complete moisture parameter include not only measure of the degree of saturation but also a measure of the quantity of water vapor. "Saturation Thickness" meets these two requirements when the thickness of the layer is also considered. The saturation thickness is defined as a hypothetical thickness required to produce saturation, given the moisture quantity and lapse rate of the layer. Tables of saturation thickness are given for the moist and dry adiabatic, and U.S. Standard Atmosphere lapse rate over a temperature range at 1000 mb of -400C to +400C. The 1000-500 mb layer has been divided into the three layer intervals corresponding to the standard radiosonde levels. The tables should obviate the efforts of other investigators to derive this information. The significance of errors arising from assumptions and computational approximations is investigated in the Appendix.